Mostly, I like the draft. Not as a spectator event considering the first round lasts until Memorial Day but from the aspect that a team can completely reinvent themselves in a matter of two days. Miami started their rebuilding through the draft. Baltimore may not have made the playoffs without the draft. New England put together the best offense ever through a draft weekend trade.
So what the problem? Draft position.
It does make the most sense of any sport. Reverse order of record, with the Super Bowl competitors selecting in the last two positions. Yes, it makes sense, but as a people we constantly follow schemes that make no sense (see: BCS). So I will suggest something that makes more sense but is more confusing, although not a whole lot more confusing.
Nowadays in the NFL we see a large disparity between competitiveness between conferences. No one will claim the NFC East is equal to the NFC West. Or the AFC South is equal to the AFC West. Basically, the Wests for a long time has been terrible and although one team from each of their conferences get a playoff team, the others generally have a high draft pick.
The gripe I have is that those inferior playoff teams still get a pick higher then more competitive teams that miss out on the playoffs. This, in a sense, rewards inferior teams that make the playoffs with a higher draft pick, where the system is clearly in place to help the teams that do not make the playoffs improve so that they may be able to compete of one of those coveted playoff spots. So this year when I saw that Philly, Minnesota, and San Diego all had higher picks then my New England Patriots. Of course this piece is written out of homerism but it does happen every year.
The superior teams that miss out on the playoffs are being given the ultimate punishment by not making the playoffs and not given the ability to improve themselves in the appropriate manner to compete within a division where the disparity is smaller.
The answer is simple. The twelve teams that make the playoffs should draft in reverse order at the end of the round, with the Super Bowl teams selecting at the end. From there, starting at pick 20, the teams that miss out on the playoffs should pick at reverse order of record. This will allow teams a more fair way of improving their teams to compete within their respective divisions. This would also not reward teams making the playoffs with a .500 or sub .500 record. Yes they may need to improve more then say an 11-5 team but clearly to compete within their division. Moreover, this those teams to be rewarded twice in a league that reward poor play from the drafting perspective.
The problem suggested is tanking for a playoff spot but in a this sport that would not really be an issue. The NFL has seen a slew of Wild Card teams make the Super Bowl in recent years, as well as this year's 9-7 Cardinals come within minutes of a championship. This is a league where every team that makes the playoffs honestly believes they can win it all. This ideology suggests that tanking would not be an issue.
The system I suggested would also in theory make the final weeks of the season more excited because of ramped up competitiveness within the division. So, NFL, just something to consider...
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